Wire-working tool.



PATENTED SEPT. 22, 1903.

Y C. STOOLFIRE.

' WIRB'WORKING TOOL;

- APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2a. 1902 N0 MODEL.

THE non ms mans co. m

UNITED STATES i atented September 22, 1903.

PATENT ()FFICE.

CHARLES STOOLFIRE, OF COYLE, OKLAHOMA TERRITORY;

WIRE-WORKING TOOL;

aPECIFIGAT-ION forming part of Letters Patent N02 739,455, dated September 22, 1903. I

Application filed November 28, 1902; Serial NUA 133,028. (No model.)

preferred manner of carrying out the invention is set forth in the following full, clear, and exact description, terminating with claims particularly specifying the novelty.

This invention relates to wire-workin g, and more especially to the tongs used for stretching fence-wires, the present invention being designed more particularly as an improvement on my former patent, No. 651,897, issued June 19, 1900.

The object of the invention is to increase the efficiency of the tool shown in said patent, to which end it consists in applying a wireclamp to one of the members in rear of the main pivot, all as hereinafter more fully described, and as shown in the drawings,

wherein Figure .l is a plan view of this tool in use against a post or stake, the arrow showing the y direction of movement necessary to tighten i an enlarged view of this improved tool in op- 'dicated.

eration between the posts or supports. The tool possesses an outer member 0 and an inner member I, constituting a pair of socalled tongs, these members crossing each other and being pivoted together at P and having jaws J at their front ends. Fig. 1 illustrates a wire-reel R, mounted on one jaw, and which may be used as explained in my prior patent, the wire leading therefrom through suitable channels in the jaws, as in- The tool preferably possesses the usual parts-such as a screw-drive r, wrenches, claw, staple-former, wire-cutter, &c.all of which it is not necessaryto describe in detail.

The present invention possesses as itsimprovements the following additional elements: A cam 0, formed on one side of one member, preferably the outer member, an eccentric E, pivoted to this member adjacent to the cam and adapted to work in connection with its face, and a handle H, leading to the rear from said eccentric and adapted to lie along the side of the member, as shown.

The use of tools of this character is too well known to need an elaborate description here. The wire is reeled by means of the handle on the reel and tension can be applied when desired. The wire is unreeled in an obvious manner, and the reel is removed and replaced at times, as will be clear. Having paid out a length of wire, the operator has but to close the members together to impart more or less tension to the wire or to bring the faces of the jaws tightly together to kink the wire and prevent its slipping at all. The tool may then be placed against a post or stake, as indicated at S in Fig. 1,and the other end moved in the direction of the arrow, so as to stretch the wire and tighten it. It can, in fact, be carried completely around the stake S, if desired, by opening the members slightly,.so to pen mit the wire to slide under some considerable tension, as may be necessary. After fastening the stretched wire it may be out off and twisted or otherwise treated by the independent parts of this tool or by other tools. The exact size, proportion, and materials are not essential, and I do not limit myself to details excepting as set forth below.

The use of the present improved form of this toolis as follows, (see Fig. 2:) The stringer-wire 1 is clamped between the eccentric and cam, (both of which have rounded faces that do not cut or kink the wire,) and this point of clamping may be used as a fulcrum, so that when the tool is moved in the direction of the arrow 2 the wire 3, leading from the left-hand post S, can be stretched. Thus it is possible to stretch wires between posts,

which could not be done with my device as formerly patented. After having tightened the wire 3, if the tool be revolved around the stringer-wire 1 while yet holding the wire 3- under tension the latter may be twisted around the stringer, as shown at at. S upposing a wire to be broken between posts, one extremity can be clamped between the jaws J and the other between the cam and eccentric, and by rotatingthe tool in the plane of the fence the ends of the wire can be drawn past each other and twisted together, as shown at 5; but perhaps the greatest utility of the present invention lies in its use in connection with my formerly-patented device. In that case the wire from the reel was led along a curved face in one jaw to a point 26 thereon, which was slightly out of register with a hole 24: through the other jaw, and when the wire was passed through this hole it is obvious that varied tension could be applied to it by bringing the faces of the jaws nearer together or farther apart. The wire 3 in Fig. 2 is shown as thus directed, and the utility of the present invention is obvious.

hat I claim as new is- 1. A fence -wire stretcher consisting of a pair of tongs comprising two members crossing and pivoted to each other and having wire-clamping jaws at their front ends, and a second and independent clamping means carried by one member at the diametrically-opposite side of the pivot from said jaws and operated independently of the movement of either member, the whole tool adapted to be swung so as to simultaneously draw a plurality of wires in opposite directions.

2. A fence-wire stretcher consisting of a pair of tongs comprising two members crossing and pivoted to each other and having jaws at their front ends, two independent wire-clamping means, one being said jaws and the other comprising a cam on the outer face of one member in rear of said pivot, an eccentric pivoted to this member and having a rounded face adapted in conjunction with that of the cam to form a wire-clamp, and a handle projecting rigidly from the eccentric and adapted to lie along the side of the memher when a wire is engaged between the eccentric and cam, the whole tool adapted to be swung so as to simultaneously draw a plurality of wires in opposite directions.

A fence-wire stretcher consisting of a pair of tongs comprising two members crossing and pivoted to each other and having meeting jaws forward of their pivot, one jaw having a hole through it and the other having a curved face leading to a point on the face of the jaw slightly out of register with said hole for the purpose set forth 5 combined with two independent wire-clamping means one consisting of said jaws and the other of a cam and eccentric carried by one jaw in rear of said pivot.

4:. A fence-wire stretcher consisting of a pair of tongs comprising two members crossing and pivoted to each other and having fiatfaced wire-clamping jaws at their front ends, and a second and independent clamping means carried by one member at the diametrically-opposite side-of the pivot from said jaws and operating independently of either member, the whole tool adapted to be swung scribed my signature this the 22d day of November, A. D. 1902.

CHARLES STOOLFIRE.

Witnesses:

CHARLES J. VVILLSON, I. H. MErzLER. 

